Women Are Vastly Underrepresented in the Cybersecurity Market

There are plenty of markets that women are not well represented in, and the surging cybersecurity market is just one of them. While there may be all sorts of different employment opportunities in this particular sector, women only represent about 10% of professionals in the cyber security field.

This is surprising, given the fact that there will be a staff shortage of approximately 1.5 million employees by the year 2020. Such a lack of staff is related to women being underrepresented in the military, intelligence, and security realms. Click here for more information.

The cybersecurity industry is growing very quickly and offers rewarding, high paying jobs. The average cyber security engineer makes about $170,000 per year.

Why Are Women Underrepresented in this Field?

Many women are under the false impression that cybersecurity programs or activities are not available. It’s unfortunate that the number of women in this field is nowhere near where it should and could be.

Yet more women in cybersecurity would help make this sector more diverse, which is very good for business. Leaders should be aware that their companies can be much more successful as their diversity increases. Boosting the number of women in cybersecurity is more about legacy rather than simply a daily task. Bringing more women on board to fill cybersecurity roles is critical for innovation and will entice an increase of ideas in a more diverse market place.

Companies Can Grow from Within

Women who are interested in getting into the cybersecurity industry or who may already be employed at tech companies should consider calling on their leaders to boost the number of cybersecurity training initiatives. Women make up only 11% of the private cybersecurity workforce, and 25% of the U.S. federal cybersecurity workforce.

Companies should implement outreach programs that attract qualified female candidates. There’s certainly still plenty of time for women to develop and advance their cybersecurity skills, and they need to take advantage of these opportunities.

There has been an increased demand for computer security professionals for technology teams in both the external and internal realms thanks to the increase in consumer demand for cybersecurity. Since many companies are concerned about the next major data breach, there are many job opportunities in this particular market.

An expanding cybersecurity market will require many talented cybersecurity professionals to meet this heightened demand, which means there will be plenty of opportunities for everyone – including women – to step in and fill these spots. Many tech companies will miss out if they don’t hire women to fill cybersecurity positions.

An increase in gender diversity will help drive expansion in the cybersecurity sector by implementing innovative ideas that would otherwise never reach security teams.